- Racing Logs 1 to 5
- Racing log #6
- Racing log #7
- Racing log #8
- Racing log #9
- Racing log #10
- Racing Logs 11 to 15
- Return to Joey's Racing Page
Whata day...
The racing action started early with practice at 11:00. Joey got out on the
track and looked good. He was out by himself and he held a fairly good racing
line and was turning laps in the 11-9 second range. I pulled him off I
weighed the car & Joey. 240 lbs. The racing minimum is 235 lbs. Five pounds
is a good safety margin for gas and clothing variations. I may take a pound
or two out as the season progresses. We got in line to go back out.
The next time he went out with 2-3 other jr. Novice kids. This time he was
better. The other kids must have made him go faster because he had a few laps
in the low 9s to high 8s. He passed a few kids and a few kids passed him.
This was very good. :-) Joey also showed some good staying power when he
received a few good bumps from the other kids and he kept on going.
I noticed that he was sliding the rear a little coming into the turns so the
next time I lowered the tire pressure down to 13 psi from 15. This time he
really cooked around the track. I clocked one lap at 7.93 seconds! This was
one kick ass time as the track record for Jr. Novice is 7.3. Joey and I retired
for lunch.
Joey and I had time for one more practice before sign in. He continued to look
good and his times were in the 8s. I decided 13 psi was a good number. I went
over to a parts vendor and purchased a new tire, fasteners, some stainless
braided fuel line and a roll cage web. (How to make a small fortune in
racing. Start with a large one.)
Joey and I signed in and he drew #16, which put him 5th in the 2nd heat race.
mom showed up right on que at 3:00 and we were lined up in the staging area.
Mom being there made Joey feel good. There were a few cautions at the 1st heat
race, but it did not take too long. Before I knew it I was pushing Joey off for
his first race.
The 3 minute warm up was OK, but I did not see Joey pass anyone. He was
fast, but just stayed in line. Protocol in Jr. Novice is for all of the cars
to stop on the track after warm up and to get pushed off in two by two
formation. We pushed off and Joey and the rest of the kids held their position
well. They went into the green right away. We were racing!
Joey did not see the green for a few seconds and he was passed by two cars. He
was down in 7th. 20 laps to go. He started to gain speed and worked his way up
to 3rd. At this pint there was about 10 laps to go and I was hoping that he
could hold on to third. (A podium finish in his first race would be nice.)
Then he started to pull up the the girl in 2nd. He always passed this girl in
practice, but he was having a hard time. After a few laps he pulled past her.
Joey was in second. He caught up to the guy in first with about 5 laps to go.
He kept trying to pass, but could not pull it off. Then on the last lap, coming
out of turn 4, Joey stayed low and passed the #1 car. He won by a nose!
What a start! Joey pulled into the pits as he was instructed to do after the
race but was imediatly pushed back out on the track by others so he could take
his victory lap! He had trouble picking up the flag from the flag man, but
after two missed attempts he got it and circled the track with the checkered
flying while I did a dance in the pits.
His first place finsh gave him a spot in the A main race. Now for the 4 hour
wait until his feature. We had dinner at DQ then came back to watch the big
kids race.
When we lined up Joey had on his race face. I was a nervous wreck. They use
a semi-inverted start for the main and Joey was 5th again. We pushed off for
the 25 lap feature. Joey looked goood in warm up and passed a few kids.
The kids had trouble geting a good line up for the start of the main. The kid
in front of Joey (#3) was way slow under caution which mucked the whole process
up. The flag man kept motioning for the kid to speed up while Joey was
trapped behind. When the green flag finally fell Joey was behind the pack.
They got off a few laps and Joey passed a few kids, then the #3 car. This kid
was fairly fast in traffic, but super slow in line up. Then there was a
caution. Joey had to start in 5th behind the #3 because he passed on the lap
that had the caution. The second start was the same. They got off a few more
laps, then Joey passed #3, then they went under caution. With about 10 laps
left they went under green. There was so much room between the #3 car and Joey
that he was in turn 1 when the green flag fell and the other kids were
entering turn 3.
Joey finally passed the #3 and two other cars to earn 3rd place in the A main
race. The #1 and #2 finished were "experienced" novices since they had raced
last year and were just about to move out of the novice class. Joey was very
happy. He got his novice book stamped with a record of the finish and a
smiley sticker.
I plan to put a picture of Joey with the checkered flag on his racing site mid
week.
Race Safe,
Joe
Return to index.
Team Dille had a interesting day at the track. On the drive up to the track I
told Joey that there was two things that I wanted him to work on today. I
wanted him to experiment with going over the speed bumps on the very inside of
the track. There are little cast concrete bumps on the inside the turns that
discourage cutting the corner. Joey has always avoided them like the plague,
but the experienced kids can use this area as required on an inside pass. The
second thing I wanted to work on was his start. Joey had poor starts on his
first two races. He did not see the green until 1/4-1/2 lap had gone by. I
told Joey I was not sure weather to look at the starter or the lead car at the
start of the race but I would find out. I mentioned that the start was a good
time to pass cars.
Joey and I also had a discussion on warming up the car and tires.
Joey and I got there at 1:30 and there were a fair number of cars already on
the track the sun was out and it was in the 60’s. Life was good. Our first
chore was to learn how much a tank of gas weighed. I drained the tank before
coming to the track. We weighed the car without gas then filled the tank and
weighed it again. The usable gas in the tank weighs 2 pounds.
We suited up and got in line for practice. When it was our turn I pushed off
and Joey turned 4-5 slow laps then got down to business. On one of his early
laps he took the inside wheels over the bumps with no ill effects.
This week I bought a real racing stop watch. It records 50 laps and it is
easy to replay the times. Like the racing tire gage this is an important and
useful tool. Joey was turning laps in low 9’s and his times were coming down.
The important thing was his times were consistent. A hand full of laps were in
the 8’s We got in 40 laps and I pulled him off.
After praising him I measured the tire pressures. I started at 14 psi all
around cold. The outside tires were up to 16-17. I bleed them back to 15 and
we waited our turn for more. The next time he went out with two other novice
kids. Joey really shines when there are other kids on the track. His times
went down to the low 8’s into the high 7’s. His best time was 7.64 seconds!
This is very good considering that the 1998 track record for Jr. Novice is 7.3
and Sr. Novice is 7.7 seconds. (The novice "record" only stands for a year.)
After about 120 laps total we went back to the truck for a snack and a break. I
told Joey he did great. I bought a set of front wheel bearings and installed
them. While we were walking around I asked two of the more experienced dads
where the kid should be looking during the start. They both turned to me and
said "flagger" without hesitation. We had our answer.
We got back in line for more practice. Joey did well keeping in the low 8’s and
high 7’s. We pushed the car back to the truck and got in line to sign up. We
pulled starting position 6 in the first heat. I saw the track photographer and
looked through his photos from last week. He got 3 of Joey last week. One
racing. One taking the lead on the last lap. And one with the checkered flag. Needless to say these are on the web page. Check them out.
Joey got out for the warm ups for the first heat and he went around the track.
He was off his pace just following the other kids around. His laps were 12-10
seconds. The flagger stopped the cars and we lined up for the start. Joey was
on the inside, 3rd row. I reminded Joey to look at the flagger. We pushed off
and the kids stayed in fairly good formation, but two got tangled up. Red flag,
restart. This time they made two laps in formation and the flagger threw the
green. Joey had his head turned to the flagger on the back straight. The flag
went down, his head snapped straight and he passed a kid! A couple laps into the
race Joey went down low in a corner and passed a kid while going over the bumps.
The kid gets an A for listening.
In the short 15 lap heat race Joey was able to move up to 2nd. He did manage to
pass one of the cars that beat him in last weeks A main race. This was an
accomplishment. The 2nd place finish put Joey in the A main again.
We congratulated Joey on his good work and had a picnic dinner. The family
watched the other heats in the other classes. I had a good chance to explain
to Patti how the whole race process works. We were able to follow several
races from the warm ups through the victory lap. I was able to fill in several
important details that she was missing. This was a good thing as it made
watching the race more enjoyable. Intermission was over at 7:15 and we were
back in line for the A main. The sun was going down and the temperature was in
the low 50’s. I set the outside tires to 13.5-14 psi. Joey was very excited.
He put his helmet on back at the truck and had me push him to the staging area
with his helmet and gloves on.
Our second place finish put us in the #3 spot for the start of the 20 lap
A-main. The #3 spot gave me the duty of being the corner marshal for turn #3.
Things were looking good. I pushed off for warm ups and Joey took 1-2 real
slow laps then picked up the pace some. He was following the kid in front of
him but not passing.
After push off the kids held a good grouping and Joey was looking at the flagger
on the back straight. Joey got a good start. He did not pass, but was not
passed. On the second lap Joey got loose coming out of turn 3 and caught it. On
the lap 4 or 5 he spun coming out of 4. He did not hit any other cars. The
yellow came out, then the red. On line up Joey went to the back of the pack (#8)
since he went Dead on Track (DOT).
The restart was a thing of beauty. Joey saw the green and put a pass on the kid
in front of him. They got off two laps and two kids tangled. Line up again.
Joey was in 7th. Joey gets another good start and things started to look good.
Two laps later Joey spins coming out of turn 4. This one you could see his
frustration as it was a full 360. Back of the pack... Again.
I did the best I could to salvage Joey’s mood. He was very embarrassed I
explained about cold tires again an they had not warmed up yet. We push off
again and Joey got in 3-4 good laps then got down to business with warm tires.
He worked his way up through the pack to take 4th. If the race was longer I
think he could have done better.
I was happy with his performance, he was disappointed. I tried to bring out the
good things on the day. He passed going over the bumps and his starts were much
better. He had also turned his best time ever in practice.
We also discussed cold tires and how we both made mistakes. Joey did not warm
up the tires during the warm up period. He also tried to turn too sharp coming
out of turn 4. His line early in the race should be closer to the wall. I
should have realized temperatures had dropped and I had to drop the air
pressure more to try and get some heat into the tire.
This week I will look into my inventory of tiny tires to see if I have a softer
tire to run in the cool weather. We will see what we can do no practice on
Monday.
Race Safe,
Joe
Return to index.
It has been a week of ups and downs for team Dille. On Monday afternoon we
practiced at the track with Ron Rohner as the video operator. There were no
other cars at the track. Joey did real well. After a number of warm up laps
Joey started to turn some decent times. Low 9's to high 7's, most everything
was in the 8's. The car was a little loose in the back but looked OK once the
tires had some heat in them.
On one of Joey's visits to the pits we discussed his times and he said that he
could go all the way around with his foot on the floor, but the car started to
vibrate funny. I said it was OK to run the car that way. I asked him to try
running a few laps like that. He said "OK Daddy". Magic words.
He got back on the track and after a few laps got down to business. Almost
instantly he was turning times in the 7's and he was consistant. I could see
the heat finally got to the rear tire and it had come "in". The looseness was
gone. Joey was flying. His best time was 7.43. This is only 0.1 seconds off
the track record. The most important thing was Joey turned 20+ laps in a row
under 7 seconds! Now that he can turn consistant times I can explore tweaks to
the car.
I pulled him in and I showed him his times. He was happy. I suggested that
he take a brake while I try and change the gearing. I figured that the
previous owner was in a higher class and ran a larger restrictor. The engine
would loose top end and taller gearing might help. I set to task changing the
gear. I had counted the axle sprocket at home as a 24 tooth and I brought a
23. When I got the sprocket off I learned it was a 25 (it is hard to count on
the car), so I was making a bigger change than I thought. I got the new
sprocket on and discovered that the smaller sprocket made the chain much
looser. I had run out of adjustment on the chain. I thought it was still OK
for a few laps.
As I pushed Joey off I saw the chain flapping around, but it looked like it
would stay on. The engine was flopping around a bit. Joey warmed up a bit
then turned a few good laps. His best was 7.46. The chain was a flopping
around and I pulled Joey in. I can't say if the gearing was an improvement or
not since we did not really get in the grove with the new set up.
My plan was to install a 24 tooth gear and get shorter chain and give it another
go. When I got home I looked at the motor mount and saw it was broken. I guess
the loose chain had caused the weld to break. No wonder, this weld was one of
the worst looking I have ever seen. It looked more like paper mache.
Penetration nil. I repaired the area by making an angle iron brace and brazing
it to the existing parts.
I made up a new chain that was a full link shorter and it was a tad too short
to adjust with the new chain so I added a half link. Everything looked fine.
I fired the car up in the garage and lubed the chain. I noticed the chain had
loostened up a bit from the brief test run. I figured I would have a look when
Joey came in from his practice on Friday.
On Friday things worked out a little different. Joey got out there and turned
a few good laps and the chain came off after only 20-25 laps. It was flopping
around loose as the engine raced and the car coasted. After a bit the chain
caught against the spinning sprocket and frame with a crunch and the chain broke
falling on the track. I pushed Joey off the track and collected the chain.
Lesson: These chains are cheap and stretch big time when new. New procedure
test run, adjust. Five laps and re-adjust. Check after 20 laps.
I installed the old chain and sent Joey back on thre track. The tension
looked OK. He got about two laps when this one fell off. Closer inspection
showed the motor mount had cracked in a new location. I guess the broken
mount allowed the engine to move out of alignment with the axle. Fridays
practice was over.
It was crunch time now. I pulled the engine and looked things over. The
engine hangs on a U-chanel. The crack was right where the chanel was ground
down to clear the chain. I beat the mount back into alignment with a big
sledge. I then made doubler from a piece of angle iron for the outside. I also
put a second reinforcement on the inside. This took a bit of work with the
sawsall. I then brazed the whole lot together. It took about 1/2 hour of
tourch time and 2 rods, but it looked and felt sturdy. It was 11:00 when I came
in.
On Saturday I decided to stick with the original chain and sprocket. The
engine went in just fine and team Dille was good to go.
Joey had a birthday party to attend in the early afternoon. The plan was for
me to get to the track and have the car ready. Patti would drop him off in
time for the first heat race. I was a little nervous since practice was not in
the plan.
Joey pulled third spot in the second heat. Joey was happy to learn that the
fast kid "Spencer" was in the first heat. The girl in front of him was good, but
he passed here consistantly in practice. The line up went poorly. There were a
few tangle ups and we had to stop them and line them up 3-4 times. Finally they
got their act together. The green flag dropped and Joey pulled off an inside
pass for the lead. Joey motored around as the girl he passed stayed close
behind. He was a tad off his speed, but going fast. About 3/4 of the way
through he caught some lapped traffic and started to pick up speed. Now the
girl was nowhere to be found. Joey took first.
This time the victory lap with the checkered flag went well. He got the flag
on the first try. The photographer got a good shot of him with the flag. :-)
Joey transfered to the A main where he was gridded 8th. In the #7 position was
Spencer who took first in the first heat. Joey was ready to race. Line ups
went better and we only had 1 restart. Joey got a good start and managed to
pass a few kids including Spencer. About 4-5 laps into the race a car spun
in front of Joey. Joey hit the front wheel of the car, which pushed the other
car straight, but stalled Joey. The other car continued, but Joey was DOT
(Dead On Track). The judges charged Joey with the DOT, which put him in the
back at the start. (IMHO, the other kid was at fault.)
The restart went well and they were off. Joey picked up a few positions. Then
about half way through the race he tangled with this other kid during a pass
and they slid up to the wall. Full speed and almost head on BAM. The race
stopped and we ran out to check on the kids. Of course this had to
happen about 15 feet in front of Mom in the stands. I could tell Joey was OK,
but way shook. Both kids were crying. The nurse came over and examined them
before she let them get out of the cars. This took a while for Joey since he
was so embaressed. He was in no mood to play 20 questions with a strange lady.
The crowd cheered as Joey climbed from the car. Racing was over for the night
as we lifted the car into the pits.
Mom was more shook than Joey. They went home with Matt. I stayed at the track
and assessed the damage. One wheel half and a radius rod with ends. A big
hammer should fix the rest. I was hoping not to work on the car this week :-(
I bought the replacement parts and headed home.
When I got home Joey and Patti had done a lot of talking and were doing much
better. Patti gave Joey a bath and a good full body inspection. The only
damage was a small bruise where the sholder belt came across the base of his
neck. The bruise had pattern of the weave of his shirt collar. Most
importantly, his attitude was good. He wanted to go back racing :-) It looks
like I will be back in the front end alignment business. Patti may want to
stay home.
I did learn a few things this week. There is an Internet list for quarter
midgets. It is fairly high bandwidth with a number of political issues. OTOH
you can get some technical info. I learned that they run the Honda engines and
geat boxes with about 1/2 the reccomended oil and a lower weight. I am running
Mobil 1 0W-30 in both locations. I put 3cc of Dow M gear gard additive in the
reduction gear box.
In the unrestricted Honda engines the valves float at high speed. Racers
change the valve springs every week. They set the valve clerances to 0.001"
hot to get the most out of the cam's duration.
My questions about gearing did not get sutiable answers.
Everyone must work on race night. I have decided to try flagging. I
stood with the flagger for a few races this week. Next week I may try a
heat race.
Race Safe,
Joe
PS: Thanks to Earl for sending me the first few racing logs.
After last week's meeting with the wall we had a lot of things to do to get
ready for this week. I spent Monday and Tusesday straightening the car. I had
to replace a radius rod and the heim joins on one side. I had to straighten
the steering arms, steering shaft and one wheel. I also had to straighten the
rear bumper from an accident in warm ups. Since the whole front end had to come
apart I learned a lot about how it worked. I also learned how to set up the
front end from scratch. This was a fair amount of work. I think I have it
right.
When I talked with him Joey appeared to have a good attitude after the crash. I
was worried about how he would do strapped into the car. Our practice was on
Wednesday after school. Ron was our second adult. For an added bonus, the
entire Dulaney family showed up to watch.
When we got to the track there were several other cars there. A few seniors, but
mostly novices. Joey did great! He got out by himself and fairly quickley got
his laps down into the high 7's. He also got out with others and passed and
passed and passed. He had a few poor passes where he bumped the other guy
after passing, but mostly they good clean passes. He never went dead on the
track. I felt like we had made a 100% recovery from the accident, both
mentally and mechanically.
Saturday we got to the track a little extra early to get in some practice.
Joey did great. His times were in the mid 7's and the car was handling well.
We went back to the truck for a snack after about 60 laps. We were about to go
out again when the skys opened up. Fortunatley, it was just a summer shower
and the track was ready to be dried in about 1/2 hour. (Let's hear it for
banked tracks.) I asked Joey if he wanted to help dry the track and he said
no. After the announced they wanted more cars out there and he saw the others
having no problems he said he wanted to go out.
We suited up and I pushed him off. He rode around with the others as the track
went from damp to dry. All the kids were taking it easy and I did not time
Joey. Joey did tangle with another kid and he tweaked one of the radius
rods. It did not look bad to me. Joey stayed out for track drying for 20-30
minutes before they called us in. They had an quick novice sign up and we lined
up. We drew the second spot on the second heat. Joey appeared ready for the
race.
Joey got a so-so start and fell back to third. He seemed slow and taking a
wider line than normal. He fell back to forth for a few laps then got third
back. His line improved and he managed to take 2nd for a lap until some lapped
traffic got in his way and he fell back to 3rd. His line never got really good
after that and he finished third. This was good since he would make the A-main.
I stood next to the flagger for the Sr. Honda race where I learned a number of
tricks. One was to put the yellow flag on the lead car. This helps the kids
stay in line and speeds restarts. I also stood for judging of the Sr. stock
race. It was interesting to see the track from the other side during a race.
I did see one infraction where a kid "nudged" another into a spin coming out
of #2. The good guy kept his spot and the bad one was sent to the back.
Justice was served.
Joey's finish in the heat put him in position 4 for the A-main. Joey apeared
worried about the other fast kids in the race. His warm ups were a bit lack
luster. When we pushed off for the race there were a few accidents by other
kids in the line up and we had to restart several times. Finally the green
came out and Joey held his position. On the second lap a few kids hit and Joey
ended up going into the wall with another kid. This time it was a light hit.
Joey was fine. The front end was tweaked, but his steering was OK and he was
ready to go. He was not happy to go to the back of the pack. The restart went
OK, but then 2 laps in two other kids went dead on the track. Restart again...
Joey was passing a kid on the back straight and he failed to allow enough room
for the other car. They scraped along the wall to a stop. Restart from the
back. This was getting old. There were 1-2 more accidents that caused a
restart. Joey was not involved, but all of the restarts did not help his his
momentum.
Finally the race got underway in earnest. With 4-5 laps to go Joey started to
hit his grove and was looking good. He finished 6th. Joey was not happy with
his performance. I was happy the race was over and he managed to pass a few
cars.
I had a chance to look at the car today. The front end is out by a fair
amount. One wheel points north and the other north east. The axle lead is off
too. I also think Joey was quite tired for the main race. I think the race
started about 8:15 due to the rain delay. Joey's normal bed time is
8:30-9:00. All of those laps drying the track probably added to the fatigue.
I think I could have done better as a coach. Drying the track was not a useful
thing for race prep.
Next week is time trials. It will be a long day since all of the kids get 10
warm up laps and 3 timed laps with an electronic timer. Feature races
will be held after the time trials. Keeping Joey's stamina for this affair will
be a challange.
Race Safe,
Joe
Let's hear it for JB weld
This was an interesting week. I spent the first part of the week straightening
out Joey's car from last week's racing. Nothing major, but I had to replace
the radius rod mounting bolts and align the front end. I also geared the car
up one tooth for the spring qualifiers. By Wednesday I had the car in good
shape.
Eric helped me out by being the second adult for a Friday night practice. It
turned out to be a rather short practice. After 10 laps or so he threw the
chain :-( Eric and I put the chain back on and had Joey back out again in a
few minutes. After 2-3 laps the chain came back off. When we lifted the
car up to put the chain back on gearbox oil started to pour out. :-0 That
ended practice for Friday. The chain had punched a small hole in the gear box
cover.
We headed off the Auto zone to get some JB weld. After that we stopped in
at the Dairy Queen to have some blizzards and take in the cars that came to
the cruise night.
When we got home I gave Joey to Patti to but to bed and I went to work on the
car. The chain had punched a dime sized hole in the gear box cover. I had
read about JB weld performing great repairs on the road on valve covers and
gas tanks. It is time to put it to the test for myself.
I cleaned up the cover real well and roughed up the inside with a die grinder. I
used a little duct tape to cover the hole on the outside then I mixed up the JB
weld and poured it into the hole. It slowly smoothed out and made a nice
surface. I put it under a heat lamp for a bit to take the chill off the
assembly. After it set up a little I brought it inside so it could cure at
room temperature. At 6:00 am I put it in the oven at 200 F for an hour to
finalize the cure.
When I took the tape off the repair looked great. The surfaces looked very
smooth and the material had cured like a rock. The aluminum color of the JB
weld makes it blend in with the cover. The repair is hard to detect. I spent
the next hour putting the cover back on and putting the engine back in.
We were ready to head to the track at 8:15.
Today was the spring qualifiers. This is a national level race which is run
with all of the technical bases covered. Instead of heat races every kid to
got a qualifying time to determine their position in the main race. This
qualifying time is part of the driver’s official record and is used when
competing at state and national races. The cars must run the gas provided by
the track to prevent the use of additives and sealed. The oil is also sniffed
for additives and sealed. Cars are then weighed and the engines sealed with
paint after the qualifying run. The fastest cars are then impounded after the
main race and selected ones are torn down to the crank to look for cheaters.
This is serious stuff!
Because of the long time required for qualifying all cars were allowed only 7
minutes for practice as a group of 7 cars before the qualifying runs started.
Joey was in the first group. He got out there and started his usual cautious
warm up. After about 10 laps he put the hammer down and started to pull his
lap times into the 8’s. Then the chain came off :-O Practice was over for the
Dille team.
This was a big disappointment for me. I thought I had everything right with the
car. Now this is three times the chain has come off. (Perhaps I should make
the first shaft drive quarter midget.) I pushed Joey back to the truck and
started to work on the chain. Joey also stopped the engine and car as I had
instructed him to prevent the chain from doing damage. Luckily the chain fell
clear of the sprocket and did no damage. I set the chain to the proper tension
and tightened the engine down real good.
While walking around the pits I ran into the former owner and discussed my chain
woes. He talked with me and showed me how the alignment is more important then
the tension. I went back to our car and indeed I saw the two sprockets were not
aligned quite right. I loosened the engine and set the two sprockets as well as
I could. Said a little prayer and tightened the engine back up.
After all the other classes practiced we had a break in the action while they
got ready for timing. The race director, who is also the head novice
instructor took the time tell Joey how timing would work. He would have 10
warm up laps, then the green flag would come out and the next three would be
timed. Then he would get off the track and head to the scale. The pit steward
also took some time with Joey and walked him out on the track to show him the
electric eye for the timing device and the spot where the flagger would stand.
This was very good since Joey could see that the flagger was actually on the
track along with the reflector for the electric eye. They were both located
off the racing line, but it was good that Joey saw it before he went out.
Knowledge is power.
With our fresh load of fuel and sealed tank we pushed up to our position. After
getting Joey strapped in I knelt and said a little prayer to the chain god that
our chain would stay on. I watched as the first three kids went out. They did
well with the timing routine, but the best time was only 8.5 seconds. Our time
came quickly and I pushed Joey off. Just as planned, Joey did 5 fast warm up
laps and put his foot down. I timed a few and they were in the mid 7’s. At the
10th lap the flagger threw the green indicating the start of the three timing
laps. After the third lap the flagger threw the checkered and Joey pulled off
the track. I waited by the scale to listen for the times. They were all in the
7.3 range with the best one of 7.3523! Last year’s novice record was 7.3192.
Joey had done well. Just as important the chain had not come off.
As timing went on there was only one kid that beat Joey’s time with a 7.2.
There was one kid with a 7.45 time and there were only 2-3 other kids in the
7’s. Joey would be in the #7 spot for the A main. My plan was the change the
gearing for the race, but I did not want to anger the chain gods so I left well
enough alone.
It took forever for all the kids to qualify, but it was finally time for the
mains. Joey started in the back of the pack which was not his best position.
Warm ups went well and we lined up. The race went green and the #8 kid passed
Joey and kept going towards the front. After several laps Joey passed the #6
car and looked like he was in the groove. Then the yellow came out. Joey got
a poor restart and the two kids behind him passed him. He started to position
for a pass but the race had ended. He finished 8th out of 8.
This was very disappointing for Joey. I tried to apologize for keeping the same
gearing, but he was hard to console. I look at it as a good week. We set the
second fastest time for qualifying. More importantly, he did not so much as bump
another car and he kept well clear of the wall. I had no alignment work to do
this week. We will be back for next week.
Race Safe,
Joe
Racing Log #6
Racing Log #7
Racing Log #8
Racing Log #9
Racing Log #10
Dille's Home Page 
Joey's Page